Trump reportedly thought North Korea would pull out of a planned summit and embarrass the US — so he beat them to it

President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, January 17, 2018.

source

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

President Donald Trump canceled his planned summit with
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un because he believed Kim would
cancel first, US officials said in an NBC News report published
on Thursday.

Trump was reportedly concerned that the US would look
desperate if North Korea backed out first, and so he beat them
to the punch.

Trump's abrupt decision took lawmakers and allies,
including South Korean President Moon Jae-in, by
surprise.

National security adviser John Bolton, who is seen as
hawkish on matters of foreign policy, was reportedly
instrumental in persuading Trump to pull out of the planned
meeting.

President Donald Trump took North Korea's recent provocative statements into
account when he canceled his planned summit with that country's
leader Kim Jong Un. Trump believed Kim would cancel the meeting
first, US officials said,
according to NBC News.

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"There was no hint of this yesterday," a US official familiar
with the summit preparations told NBC News.

Trump reportedly began seriously considering withdrawing from the
summit on Wednesday and consulted with Vice President Mike Pence,
secretary of state Mike Pompeo, chief of staff John Kelly, and
national security adviser John Bolton. The president also spoke
with defense secretary Jim Mattis on Thursday morning.

Trump eventually released a letter addressed to Kim on Thursday
morning, citing what he described as Pyongyang's "tremendous
anger and open hostility" in its recent public statements. North
Korea sent out heated missives in response to controversial
remarks from Pence and Bolton on the fate of the North Korean
regime.

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According to a Washington Post report, Trump was reportedly
worried that North Korea would back out of the meeting first, and
in an effort to prevent the US from looking desperate, he beat
them to the punch.

"I was very much looking foward to being there with you," Trump
said in the letter.

Trump's abrupt decision took lawmakers and allies, including
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, by surprise. It also
contradicted a letter from the State Department on the
constructive talks Pompeo was having with other Asian leaders
ahead of the summit, which was sent nearly two hours before the
Trump's letter to Kim.

Pompeo has taken a prime role in US-North Korean diplomatic
relations, after he traveled to North Korea and helped secure the
release of three Korean-American prisoners. But according to some
US officials, Bolton, who is viewed as a hawkish policy advisor,
clashed with some of Pompeo's ideas and floated the notion of
scuttling the Trump-Kim meeting.

Following Trump's decision, North Korean officials released a statement saying
they were still willing to meet with the US to "resolve issues
anytime and in any format."

"I want to conclude that President Trump's stance on the North-US
summit does not meet the world's desire for peace and stability
both in the world and on the Korean Peninsula," a North Korean
official said.